Tuesday, March 31, 2009
IDIOTS
The stock market is an idiot.
Yesterday it went into a tailspin because Obama became directive about the auto industry.
Didn't they get that this was a good thing for the market?
Nope. Not until today when they made up some of the loss.
There is a lot of running around looking for positions on this thing. The right wingers are all about the sin of nationalizing when the other day they were pissing and moaning about pouring money in without reciprocal "punishment" of the industries.
The lefties don't know what to think.
I think it is a good thing and high time.
I like the whole thing. The backing of warranties is great as is the idea, now working its way through congress, to give cash for clunkers.
As a Chrysler owner, actually three Chryslers, I am not worried about the warranty so much as the viability of the dealer that I depend on. Otherwise, let 'em go.
Labels: Administration Obama, economy
VACATION PLANS
I have made reservations for my annual summer escape to Shelter Island, San Diego.
I go every year for the pelicans, seals and boats.
I get a room on the water and spend the day watching the boat ramp, taking naps, eating at the restaurant and walking this beautiful man made island across the bay from the city.
It is a yachting center and the base for America's Cup when it was held in SD.
I stay at the Bay Club and Marina. A great mid level hotel that I used to train in.
I go in August to have the cool air of San Diego waft across my body. It would be normally 105+ in the desert.
I had thought that with the economy and all as well as my deflated retirement funds that I should skip it this year.
Then I rethought it. And got encouragement from my husband to do it anyway. So I am.
If things really go to hell I can always cancel. But I don't think that I will. I am doing my bit for the "hospitality industry".
Labels: life
OVERCOME
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Films was
This is an indie, small scale story about a wedding and the people caught up in it.
A tragicomedy really.
Funny around the ethnic stuff, the lower middle class tastes, the other accoutrements of the over the top wedding.
Not funny around the utter lack of readiness for these two kids to get married.
The preparations gain a life of their own and you can see these young people founder under it. By the end you want to grab them and tell them to stop.
The style of the film is docudrama. Very well done.
The groom is a hunk. But dumb and probably an alcoholic.
Even knowing all this, which I did because I saw it when it came out, you will enjoy this film. The film maker Nancy Saroka puts a new spin on an old genré.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
DUDE, YOU'RE GETTING AN IMAC
John went to order his iMac today.
His eMac (actually an iMac in the educational version--5-6 years old) is coughing and puffing.
A lot of beach ball and funny behavior.
When mine went like that, I let it go for awhile and, before I knew it, the hard drive was toast. I lost everything on the machine. I was pretty well backed up though.
We have just pulled the plug on his machine. Time to act before it dies with all its data inside.
We have a good MacDoc to replace the other one we had. This one worked for the Apple Store in LA for two or three years. He will set John up. It is all hands off for me. Like teaching your relative how to drive.
The MacGuy we had went to Mexico a couple of years ago to live on the cheap. I hope he isn't dodging bullets.
John will have the same as mine. The 20 inch standard. Plenty of juice for what we do. Of course I was saying that with the second Mac I ever bought. All those floppy discs would hold whatever we could generate. What was it? One Mb?
Labels: macintosh
Monday, March 30, 2009
PAYING THEIR OWN WAY
This is interesting.
The Obamas Will Pay For White House Decoration
This will certainly forestall any criticism of the style or amount of items in the place. He is a master of preemption.
I like the part about Laura's china. Jesus.
Labels: Administration Obama
Sunday, March 29, 2009
THE DUKE
Today's NYTimes Best Film was
with John Wayne in his capstone role. Years of seeing Wayne prepare us for this last hurrah.
The rapport between the Duke and all his costars shows his immense generosity and, at the same time, his realization that good acting is good listening and good collaboration.
Improbably, Glen Campbell plays credibly as a young Texas marshall on the make for the same fugitive that Wayne and his "client" Kim Darby are pursuing. Wayne and Darby have some great verbal contests. Very well done.
It is a chase movie. It has at least three endings. It is the dialogue and banter that makes this so delightful.
The last battle is quintessential Wayne. One revolver, a rifle and the reins in his teeth he takes off in direct confrontation with four outlaws.
Of course, he wins. Sort of.
I missed this film when it came out because, by that time, I was disaffected with Wayne and a lot of his politics. But now I can sit back and remember that this was the star I watched intensely as a kid. He was a prolific actor and I saw his work regularly. I can still remember some of it and not all are westerns by any means.
And so on.
Talking just piles on the BS. John Wayne is the real thing and in this late in life picture he gives it his all and I was happy to see it.
The young Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper are in this picture as well as the always welcome Strother Martin as a horse trader. He has some good scenes.
I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5. I couldn't bear to see those three endings again.
Labels: best films
MAKING CONNECTIONS
Who says that they can't talk tough.
Obama Takes Tough Line as Auto Deadline Looms
And, in the process, force some action.
The CEO of GM just resigned. 1 + 1 = 2. No coincidence.
More heads? I hope so.
I think that the Obamas have it in them to be really hard with some of this stuff. Fall on your sword you losers.
We will see.
Labels: Administration Obama
CAPITALIST ROT
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Films was Pasolini's
I saw this when it came around. Roger Ebert has said that it would take time to understand this film and I think that he is right.
I remember it more than most. Not because it is easy to decipher. More because of the way Pasolini presents his "theorem" to us.
A hot young man, Terrence Stamp, shows up as a visitor to a rich family and has at it with them all. Sexually and in some kind of mesmeric way.
Like a bee going around to all the flowers.
The father, mother, brother, sister and maid. He may also have a thing with the dog but we don't know that as clearly as with the others.
The theorem is about what would happen to these people after they were "released".
By today's standards the sexual stuff is not nearly as shocking as it was in the late 60's. Well, not shocking so much as surprising.
I don't think that I had seen homoerotic activity in first line films before this. Perhaps. But here it is nicely done and not in the style of the older conventional homos. No prancing and other fairy high jinx.
The results of this bee to flower mating are quite spectacular and I will leave it to the viewer to get the full impact of the theorem. Worth seeing. Unleash a repressed human and see what you get.
This is a very well done film. The music is fine. One does have the "what is going on here" feeling a lot of the time but I think that it resolves by the end.
The film maker's view of his own rather obscure technique is made clear in the film itself. The son becomes an unconventional artist as his gift and talks about his own work. Not too big a leap to see this is Pasolini talking. It is laid out for us to see. No mystery.
Pasolini had a dramatic life. A communist. Outspoken. An openly gay man. Death obsessed. He was killed, mutilated, by hustler(s).They ran over him with his own car. Some think that he staged it himself.
Given all that, as far as the film goes, I liked it. I liked seeing the theorem play out. I liked Terrence Stamp who doesn't really do a lot except look very sexy and buzz in for the pollination.
Notice how much I have written about this movie. That says a lot. It is worth pulling apart.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
Caniniana: I asked Franklin what he thought of the part with the dog and he says he doesn't think anything untoward happened. The dog wasn't screwed up like the people were. It was a reddish dog. One of the kind that runs after sticks. Franklin considers that low market behavior. The dog gets a 2.
Labels: best films
FIRST AMONG THE SECONDS
I love Joe Biden.
Speaking Freely, Biden Finds Influential Role
The guy is making his way in the new administration just as I thought he would.
I read anything that I can about him.
It is greatly to Obama's credit that he has invented this type of relationship with his Vice President and to Biden's credit that he has taken on what, at times, is a contrary way of being.
That is to say nothing of the fact that everyone loves Joe.
Labels: Administration Obama, Joe Biden
Saturday, March 28, 2009
EXPECTATIONS WILL GET YOUR ASS
People have all kinds of expectations that are not likely to be met.
This is where anger and resentment meet negotiation and compromise.
It amazes me that so many people have an unrealistic and, in fact, totally incorrect expectation of Obama's position on a host of issues.
Today's statement by Biden that we will not lift the embargo on Cuba is an example.
The left has assumed that, of course, he would share their views and rescind it.
The right has expected that he would lift the embargo, visit Castro and sell out on every issue we have had with the island government since Kennedy.
Nothing could be further from the case.
Obama is a "gradualist" and a process man. He believes that the best progress is made slowly and collegially and if that is not possible, the change should probably not be made.
I can go with that.
John Cole has a nice piece on this around the "stoner joke" that came up the other day in the on-line town hall along with the statement that he does not support legalization of marijuana. People haven't been listening to him. Even I knew that he wouldn't go for that.
As the article notes, the same with gay issues. He will let the Congress do most of the heavy lifting on "don't ask, don't tell". And he will support the result.
He will let the states sort out gay marriage. That is OK with me.
Imposed actions, particularly on values issues, do not work. Gradualism does.
Labels: Administration Obama
LIGHTS OUT
We got an email the other day from a friend spreading the word that there would be a lights out tonight in Palm Springs. Official. The City Council.
I wish I still had it.
The last line of it said that "of course, necessary lights would remain on".
LOL
Here is the big deal.
You can even sign a petition. That will make you feel better.
Then, at the end of the hour, go turn on all your extra lights and go about your business as usual. That'll fix the shit.
This is the kind of thing that I, illiberally, oppose on the face of it.
Ceremonial little actions that mean nothing. One hour a year. Feel good about your greenity and then go on with your wasteful little life.
I will be asleep so my lights will be off. Except those that are necessary of course.
This is like the marches for AIDS and the dances for breast cancer and all the rest of the silly diversions from true altruism or selflessness. I walk, therefore I am. Or something.
I have tried it, incidentally, and I have to report only that I felt cheap and incomplete and, sadly, little of it ever added to my sensitivity or greater contribution.
Organized self satisfaction. The ceremonial smug.
While I am at it, let's here it for the end of the incandescent bulb. We are all to switch to CFLs.
A progress report.
Do New Bulbs Save Energy If They Don't Work?
Another boondoggle. I have written about our own experience with these things. Limited but still.
No conversion here.
The light is poor and the cost is high and, from the reports of friends, they don't last. Period.
I know. I am resisting the inevitable. But sometimes the inevitable is worth resisting.
Labels: environment
Friday, March 27, 2009
SHORTED OUT
Today's movie was the second half of
2007 Academy Award Nominated Shorts (2007)
Today was all live action and better, in a way, than the animated. More original. More compelling. And less whimsical. I hate whimsical.
All of these were fine films. I enjoyed every one.
That brings the ratings up a bit but not that much on the total disc. I would give it all a 3 out of Netflix5.
I am not sure whether I will order the 2008 disc or not.
CONVICTION ABORTED
I don't write much about the abortion issue. I am sort of against it but I support free choice. That is a muddle to be writing about.
But this made me happy.
Jury Finds Kan. Doctor Not Guilty in Abortion Case
This is a residual of the Republican Kansas AG, now thrown from office, who prosecuted punishingly and angrily on abortion cases.
A peaceful solution.
Labels: republican whack jobs
BUS STOP
You know that, every once in a while, I have to rant on some overused figure of speech.
The blogs and news media get on a roll and everyone uses a phrase or a piece of slang or an unusual word so that it wears out like an old tire.
So to speak.
This one involves tires, kinda.
Let's stop "throwing people under the bus".
It is everywhere.
Today GOP Reps Ryan and Cantor "threw Boehner under the bus" by disavowing the "budget" that the three of them stood behind yesterday.
Obama had challenged the GOoPers to come up with a budget if they didn't like his and so they got this 19 page pamphlet out with no numbers and called it their budget.
The mockery began. Even in the main stream media!
Ryan and Cantor saw it coming and quickly jumped out of the way before the bus----oh. No. Stop the bus.
Labels: language
Thursday, March 26, 2009
SHORTS
I am watching the 2007 Academy Awards Short Film Nominees.
Half of them today and half tomorrow.
They are OK.
I realize why I don't go to the Palm Springs Short Festival any more.
The films have to have a lot of whallop to work in a short time. Many go over the top. So packed with "stuff" that the message is missing. Some come under the wire. Too sparse to get it.
I think that there is less time, less money and, often, less talent.
This is the minor league of motion picture making.
But I decided to rent this disc and I am sticking with it.
So far there are no 4's or 5's. No 1's or 2's. A solid 3 out of Netflix5.
NOT SURPRISED
Israel: White Phosphorus Use Evidence of War Crimes (VIDEO)
I have said before that these guys are right bastards. Terrorists.
So are some of the Arabs.
But let's not let Israel get away with the same shit we condemn in other countries.
If you want to see what white phosphorous does go to this image page.
I was going to put one of these photos on line but thought it too grizzly.
So I have made it optional.
We should look at this though. They are probably our bombs.
Labels: Israel
GUESTHOOD PART TWO
I thought of two more things. See "Guesthood" below.
The good guest knows that three days is about the maximum time that guests can enjoy happy times with the host.
If they are in the area for more than three days, they go off for a day and a night, minimum, to "Disneyland". Or something.
And then return, refreshed. Renewed. Also good guests know that part two, after the break, is ideally two days, not three. The law of diminishing returns.
The good guest also knows that it is a nice thing to email or phone upon safe arrival at home.
This allays the lingering host-worry that the plane didn't take off or had to return to the airport—that the guests might show up at the door for another, unexpected, night's stay.
SERVING THE PEOPLE
We watched Obama's press conference last night.
He is masterful.
Of course, a lot of the media reviewed his demeanor and what might be behind it. The process over the content. This so totally pisses me off.
I really do not give a shit what Adam Nagourney of the NYTimes thinks of Obama's style.
It is obviously his "style" and agenda to speak over the heads of the chattering classes and go to the people.
I watched today's town meeting on line people. It was great.
The link has a complete video which is hard to find on the web.
He was loose as a goose. Very responsive.
Here he was talking to the people and not to the talking heads who would funnel his message and, probably, dilute it with diversions and trivia.
I think that the media is mostly OK but some of it is way too mediating.
Sometimes it is stupid.
Anyway, the contrast between Obama and the bushies is day and night.
He is smart. He is articulate. He is teaching us as he inspires and empathizes.
And the market went up again today.
Labels: Administration Obama
GUESTHOOD
Our friend Lynda left this morning on the way to Phoenix before she returns to London.
We had a great time. It went very quickly.
She is a great guest.
Actually, most of the people who come to see us are pretty good guests.
They don't look to be entertained. They take care of themselves once they get the lay of the land.
They don't try to "take us out" or give us "hostess presents".
They make their beds every day and they don't strew their clothing from one end of the room to the other. This shouldn't bother me actually. I don't go into the rooms to see if the guest is orderly or not. But, somehow, we know. A sense of disorder.
A new wrinkle involves water use. A good guest doesn't flush unless it is necessary and doesn't take too many showers. One a day is sufficient. Especially if you swim in the pool and wallow in the spa. Maybe even one every other day.
A good guest praises the host's cooking but is open about likes and dislikes. Last night, onions for the hamburgers were on each plate. The guest asked to have them off. Good guest. Doesn't even want to smell them. She got a new plate.
A good guest doesn't ask "can I help?" more than once, if that. A guest is a guest not a helper.
A good guest also knows the host's routine and eccentricities like the early bedtime and so on. I did stay up one night until 9 and was well praised for the effort. I didn't go to the gym. That was also noticed. A good guest credits consideration.
A good guest should be able to go to the guest room or take a walk by themselves or use the pool on their own for a period of time every morning and afternoon. Constant conversation is a pain in the ass. Small talk is off the table.
Any guest worth their salt pays attention to the dog in a way that best suits them but they do pay some attention.
If they don't like dogs, then maybe they should shorten their visit. Attention must be paid.
The best guests go along on the dog walks and enjoy the dog personality.
Franklin is very responsive to level of interest. He doesn't ask much more than a guest is willing to give. Even if there is just a smidgeon of attention, he is OK. He reciprocates.
If they want to wrestle on the living room floor, it is better, and the guest will get tons of doggy attention. Franklin is versatile.
I am not often a guest but I try to follow these rules. I am especially good at going off on my own and letting people know what I would like and not like to do, eat and play at.
But that is another item. The good host. I will save that for another time.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
I LOVE THIS KIND OF STUFF
Obama Calls Space Shuttle, Flanked By Schoolkids (SLIDESHOW)
Don't miss the slideshow.
He had Kaye Bailey Hutchinson there. Sharing the wealth.
Labels: Administration Obama
HERE COMES COMPANY!
I am more or less out of the blog business for three days.
My friend Lynda is coming to visit. From London.
I have known her closely for thirty and more years. We aren't sure.
We haven't seen each other in 5 or 6 years. We aren't sure of that either.
We are pretty weak on the stats.
In any case, it has been a long time. There will be much to discuss. Or not.
We e-mail every week to ten days.
She is driving alone from LA where she has spent the week with other friends. Hers. No mutuals.
We have pledged not to discuss how much we have changed or who did what to who when.
I have a good role model for the latter.
John had a long estrangement from a friend and then, recently, he called to say he would be in Palm Springs.
Both expressed amazement that they couldn't remember what had caused the separation.
I told John that I remembered and if he wanted me to, I could review it all when the three of us sat down to dinner. Well, the four of us. The husband was involved too.
But I was not asked to perform and I held my peace.
I think that it is difficult to keep friends for a long time. I marvel at the folks, like my friend Tom, who has childhood friends in place. But he grew up here and he is affable and gregarious. Characteristics which are not necessarily in my sling of arrows. Or maybe that is the problem. Arrows.
I have not stayed in one place. I gave up all my childhood friends when I went away to college. I gave up almost all of my family as well. Not my mother and father. Cousins and the like. So many. So far away in more than distance.
I have another friend who I have known easily as long as Lynda. We talk occasionally but don't get together. He is on his fifth wife or partner and things never work out when he is in that situation. We wait for him to be a loner again. Then maybe we can get to see him undividedly.
In-laws of friends, the wives and husbands and lovers and other friends, inevitably compete. Mine and theirs.
Somehow you end up having to like both to keep the friend and it rarely works out. I think that is because, in love, opposites attract and, since I like my friend and his stuff, the opposite would not attract me, by definition.
We have the same with other friends. They like John or not me or vv. In this case, with Lynda, John and she get along fine and we think that her husband is a good guy. His opposites to her are actually somewhat attractive to me. He is witty, urbane and quite blunt in his conversation. No circumlocution. A Scot. Great.
He is not coming for this trip as he has a week of golfing in Augusta in the spring. For a lifer at golf, there is nothing quite as sweet. We will miss him but we understand. She will leave here and drive to Phoenix to meet him for another sunny week away from London.
So there we are. She isn't here yet. She said 11-1 and there is no sign of her at 1130!
It will be fine. I can hold lunch I think. What are friends for otherwise?
Labels: life
Monday, March 23, 2009
2120 S.MICHIGAN
Today's movie was the biopic
Somewhere there is a boxed set of Chess records. Maybe Dave has it. Maybe we sold it with the Boston house. The famed estate sale when we left and came west.
It was immense. Too much to listen to.
Fortunately, the story of Chess Records in this movie is slimmed down. It is not your usual "and then I wrote" kind of tale. It shows the producer, Leonard Chess,* at the center, rounding up five artists They move from situation to situation, hit to hit, until they are big enough to have their work stolen by such as the Beach Boys.
There is also a parallel story of race relations. There is a moment where Chuck Berry is performing with a velvet rope down the middle of the theater. Whites on one side, blacks on the other. Some white kids take down the rope and move to the other side. End of segregated shows. Another moment when Alan Freid, at a loss of what to call his new Berry record (he had, as payola, 1/3 interest in the royalties), calls it "rock and roll" instead of race music.
Adrien Brody is good as Leonard Chess and the singers/actors play true to form and mostly sing their own sides.
The music is great. Listen to it on earphones.
They do not avoid all the bioflick clichés but they do a great job of moving the thing along and focusing on the energy of the period.
The title comes from Chess' practice of buying his artists gift Caddies (with their own money) when they got a hit. What a parade of beautiful cars!
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5.
* There were actually two brothers. Like I said, it is slimmed down.
SAAB STORY
We used to own SAABS. Convertibles. Three of them, I think. They were wonderful cars and, up to the end, they had an extraordinary dealer/service network. Small.
Then GM bought a piece of them.
They closed the dealer franchises within a year. Gone. You had to go to a GM mega-dealer.
At the same time, we were moving out here and there were no dealerships that carried SAAB so we bit the bullet and bought the Jeep Cherokee. Then the Sebring convertible which at least looks a little like the SAAB convertible looked.
Now, it looks like their death nell.
Of course they are saying no to GM who destroyed the brand.
It is unforgivable.
There is a guy at the gym who has an old black SAAB sedan. It has the famous chortle in the motor sound.
I love to look at it. It is a great "remember when" you could buy a real car from a real dealer who had his own service department (ours had two partners one for service and one for sales) and would take care of you like a customer should be taken care of. Truth led the list. Fairness followed. Reliablity over all.
Good bye SAAB. Sob.
Labels: automobiles
Sunday, March 22, 2009
THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Today's movie was
Låt den rätte komma in / Let the Right One In (2008)
This is a vampire film. I am not usually attracted to the genré but the reviews prompted me to take a bite.
It was pretty good. A 12 year old boy is bullied and lonely. He makes a new friend. Just moved into the next door apartment with her "dad".
Slowly but surely they get to know one another and eventually he realizes that she is a vampire and the one who is behind a lot of local killings.
I know. I know.
Here is the deal.
This film is very stylish. It has a lot of neat scenes. I assume that much of it is original thinking about the vampires.
There is a great ending and, yes, the bullies get theirs and then some. Stick with strong friends with strange powers.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5 and if you like this kind of thing I think you will give it a 4.
AIR
We had terrific winds today. It is March. It is the desert. It is occasionally terrifically windy.
Winds like 50 mph gusts.
We are OK. No one likes it. It is scary while it is happening. Franklin stays very close.
It beat the shit out of the bougainvillea and there is a banana tree stem broken. Otherwise, it is just a mess.
My friend Lynda is coming Tuesday. So much for having a house proud yard for her to look at.
It will get cleaned after she is gone.
It is OK. We all need to be taken down a peg by Mother Nature.
There was one good effect. I spent some quality time with Bill and Marlene our neighbors. They have been here for almost 40 years. Same house.
Marlene says that it used to blow like this every ten years. Now a lot more often. I am convinced that it has to do with global warming.
And so on.
We didn't lose power. We almost always do when there is strong wind. The internet cable was out for an hour and a half. Tough.
We survived. We were watching a movie.
Labels: weather
Saturday, March 21, 2009
STILL GOING ON
If there is any doubt that the issues highlighted in Milk are still alive and well, read this.
Kerry Requests Asylum in Case of Gay Man
It takes a Senator and a former presidential candidate to bring something like this to the fore.
The judge's ruling in this case is "outrageous". But, unfortunately, not unusual.
Mr. Kerry said that Immigration Judge Francis L. Cramer had found Mr. Oliveira’s testimony to be credible and his fear of living in Brazil genuine. However, the judge denied the asylum claim, saying he “was never physically harmed” by the rape, the letter said. Mr. Kerry called the ruling “outrageous.”The fight goes on.
Labels: gay marriage, gay rights
GAYSTORY
Today's movie was Gus Van Sant's
Sean Penn inhabits Harvey Milk and we are the better for it at all levels. He goes way beyond impersonation. He is Harvey Milk or, if he is not, he conveys the essence of who we understood that man to be. He did get an Oscar for this.
The other supporting actors are very good. Josh Brolin, as the assassin Dan White, is particularly strong. Moral balance. A opponent who wins a battle but loses the war inside himself.
James Franco is the long time lover and partner even in separation. Pushed and pulled between the activism and his desire for a home life with Harvey. He never really leaves his side.
A biopic is very hard to make, particularly when the person(s) live in our lifetime.
Somehow the interfolding of actual footage makes this film more alive and accessible. It is very skillfully done. The opening scenes from gay bar busts in the 70s is stunning. For many gay men this is past remembering. They were just being born. It puts an underline to all that follows. I came out at this time.
I have no emotional distance from this film at all. I was not in the city but for a period of time we were all Harvey Milk's constituents. His struggle was/is our own.
I had a lot of tears. Some happy. Some very sad.
I am an optimist by nature and I keep a stiff upper lip about the shit that gay people have had to shovel. Like Milk, I believe that hope is the essential.
But buttoning the negativity down comes at some cost and this film allowed me to let a lot of that history out. In several places I was in a howl of released sadness and pain.
Van Sant has been criticized by many of us for his lack of commitment to gay rights. As if his being one of the few out film directors is not enough or does not count. With this film, he can put all that undeserved shit to rest. He has paid back mightily.
I know some people that were extras in the making of the film, reenacting the marches and crowd scenes. They claimed a great catharsis. I can feel that even from this distance. The final candlelight vigil is astounding. And it is a "small candle" to the actual 30,000 person event.
I will refrain from making connections from the film to present day gay politics. They are obvious and, in many ways, egregious.
But I am an optimist. I live the progress that has been made. I live openly. Completely. I am married. I am grateful to our pioneers. I feel like one of them. But some of us were more pioneering than others. Harvey Milk was one of those special ones and for that I am grateful to see this film which, in its way, is an artifact of that progress. It took over a decade for the film to be made. This true film. Not some fantasy. No pulled punches about Bryant or Briggs or any of the other godly enemies of human freedom.
I will give this a 5 out of Netflix5. I will see it again in the Van Sant film fest upcoming.
I GET LETTERS
I wrote that only one kid in my area got admitted to MIT and she is the one who I did not interview. She asked about it but never followed up.
I was a little bummed out about that but not too much. She was an early admit and probably didn't see the point.
The funny thing is that she sent me a thank you letter the other day!
Talk about your LOL.
So I wrote back wishing her good fortune and sorry that we hadn't had a chance to meet and "if I can be of any help" let me know. A good sport letter.
But today is the kicker.
I got an email from a sweet young man who was my first or second interview. He is Mexican and just recently came over. He had trouble with the language and went slowly but surely. He would shape the words with his hands when he had a bit of rough going. Everything came out fine but you could see him seeing the words. Beautiful to watch and not at all offputting.
Like me, he is a loner. But a doer.
I was quite impressed.
But I am not surprised he was not admitted.
In his letter he expresses his disappointment and then says:
At the end, this helped me to open my eyes to new experiences. Funny thing, I also proved my classmates that chasing your dreams, even if you can't reach them right away can help you. At first I thought they would laugh at me for failing to get into, but I thought wrong. By trying I gained their respect and admiration. I am thankful for that. And I am thankful to you too, who helped me try.Very nice.
His email gives me a reason to keep on with this thing.
It doesn't matter if "my kids" get in or not. As I have learned before, it is journey and not the destination that counts.
As my young friend reminds me.
Labels: MIT
Friday, March 20, 2009
THE BAASTUDS
Simply incredible. Even though some of it is computer magic, I am convinced that most of it is man and dog and sheep working.
Labels: fun
OVERKILL
With the emphasis on the "kill" part.
Kevin Drum and I are in agreement.
People just don't get this.
It is a massive punishment of, mostly, the wrong people. Innocents.
Obama is right. What we need to do is back up, get a little perspective and build better barn doors.
The horses left a long time ago.
So silly. So petulant.
Here is Gail Collins on the anger that has evolved so recently. What happened to hope?
Remember. In Broadcast, the irate Howard Beal shot himself.
Labels: economy
HAPPY EQUINOX
Today, the Sun crosses the celestial equator heading north at 11:44 UT. Known as an equinox, this astronomical event marks the first day of spring in the northern hemisphere and autumn in the south. It also marks the beginning of Norouz, the Persian (Iranian) new year. Equinox means equal night. With the Sun on the celestial equator, Earth dwellers will experience nearly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. Of course, in the north the days will grow longer, the Sun marching higher in the sky as summer approaches. To celebrate the equinox, consider this scenic view of the setting Sun from the island of Naxos in the Aegean Sea. Recorded last June, the well-planned image captures the Portara (big door) in a dramatic silhouette. Measuring about 6 by 3.5 meters, the Portara is the large entrance to the Greek island's ancient, unfinished Temple of Apollo.
Labels: APOD, astropix, nature
Thursday, March 19, 2009
DAY OF INFAMY
No one is making much of the fact that today is the sixth anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.
I guess I won't either.
Except to say that Obama has very high ratings from the public on his Iraq policy.
Labels: Administration Obama, Iraq
OWNING UP TO IT
Claiming full responsibility for the situation, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told CNN today that his office "asked Sen. Chris Dodd to include a loophole in the stimulus bill that allowed bailed-out insurance giant American International Group to keep its bonuses." He said he requested the measure to prevent costly governmental litigation.First class. The manly thing to do. Honesty in government!
Imagine the bushers doing this? Owning up to a mistake?
Or not a mistake. A different interpretation. This is one more example of how to put out a fire. Take away the fuel. This was quickly becoming a "who done it" which is a terrible way to waste resources
Besides, the Congress is going to soak the newly rich bonus babies to the tune of 90%.
End of story.
First "scandal" averted. How refreshing.
Labels: Administration Obama
ALL THE RAGE
I don't share all the rage at the AIG bonuses.
Of course they represent the worst of corporate America, especially the financial sector.
On the other hand, they are perfectly normal.
In good times people have bonuses. They look forward to getting them.
In a partnership, the bonus system is used as the main avenue of compensation. It is meant to reflect the skills of the partner as a rain maker as well as a practitioner of the particular art.
We had bonuses in my company. Mine were extraordinarily large by any measure. Most professional companies are partnership forms. Consulting companies, accountants, attorneys, brokerage and insurance companies. That's how AIG started its system.
Very common but as most people are used to the triangular corporate structure, they really don't get partnerships.
In a partnership one's "salary" is relatively low. The real meat is in the bonus.
In good times the bonus system is a real performance driver. If fairly constructed it eliminates a lot of the "middle man" bureaucracy that corporate compensation requires. You get what you truly earn. Not what some shit in the personnel office thinks you should earn.
In bad times, the bonus system gets screwed up by human nature. Survival needs come in and the bonus is locked in. Signed for in advance. Of course this is upside down to its purpose but, believe me, AIG is not the only company where this has happened, whether financial or not, if it is closely held.
Sure, AIG is pretty big to be closely held and it is, in fact, not closely held. But the bonus structure was allowed to endure.
When the partners owned the company, setting overly large bonuses or locking them in would only be screwing yourself.
Publicly held, not so much.
That is the technical side of it.
The other side of it is that the whole thing is a tempest in a teapot. People are pissed. They should be. But the money that is going out to bonuses is a small part of the money that is being sloshed around. There are larger pots of soup that are being pissed in.
I have some faith in the fact that the Obamas and Congress are getting their arms around this whole thing.
Maybe this is a good exercise in anger therapy. Pounding pillows. Screaming. Beating each other with "batacas".
Obama said he took the responsibility for it. "The buck stops here".
That means "move on folks, there ain't nothing going on here". We have more important things to do and he will do them.
Oh. Geithner? I think he is so overly spread thin. They gotta do something about that.
They will.
Labels: Administration Obama
IN AND OUT
I got the word on which of "my" kids got accepted to MIT.
I am an alumnus who stands ready to visit with applicants on their way in the admissions process. I am called an Educational Counsellor. There are over 2000 of us across the country. This is my second year in the position.
Last year I shared the area with the outgoing EC and had no interviews requested. He only had a few.
This year I had ten kids setup interviews with me. As it turned out, this was almost all of the applicants who completed the full admissions process. Over 90%! Unprecedented.
I had a great time interviewing them. It is not easy. Some are a bit high on the introvert scale. I can identify with that.
So. I didn't interview one kid. One was a dud. The rest were pretty good and two were outstanding. I gave one of these the rare +1 rating. Too good to be passed up.
He didn't make it. Neither did any of the others.
There was only one admission. The kid who didn't interview! She got in on "early admissions" but I had several more in that category.
What a kick in the ass! My initial reaction was "to hell with it". I'll quit.
I got one email from the group thanking me for my help while also saying how bummed she was.
Well. After the initial disappointment, I braced up a bit.
I suppose that every EC had at least one +1 to promote. That would end up as 4000 plus students. They can only admit about about 1600 kids. About 10 % of the total applicants.
I got a letter today from the Head of Admissions. She knew the ache of the EC and hit the nail right on the head about how I was feeling.
Very nice.
I have gotten over the disappointment.
I won't resign.
I liked doing it.
My disappointment has to be nothing compared to the kids who didn't make it. Who wanted it so badly.
They all had backups of course. But for a couple of them, this would have been a wonderful opportunity and they won't get the shot that I had.
We live in a bit of a backwater here in the desert.
I was amazed at how good the kids I saw were. Even the dud! Actually she was very smart. Too smart by half. She had a particular kind of contempt for the un-smart that was palpable. Ego.
I will give it a go next year. Maybe I can get to interview the one or two that make it. If not, the downside is that I will have met some young people who are really interesting to talk to and maybe, just maybe, have a little influence on their choices down the road.
Labels: MIT
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
POTUS PICKS
I don't know fuck all about basketball but I sure enjoyed watching this video of Obama filling in his brackets on ESPN.
As an expert on using a blackboard, I gotta say that his handling of the marker is tops. A+. Professional. Great lettering.
Labels: Administration Obama
OBAMA STYLE
Kevin Drum reflects on Obama's persistent but patient style.
he really does know what he wants, and he really does insist on getting it. At the same time, as long as things are moving in the right direction, he seems profoundly willing to compromise about how fast he gets there. I haven't quite figured out yet whether I think this is good or bad, but it's what we've got. We may have a liberal in the White House, but we don't have one who's temperamentally likely to knock heads and try to make history.So far, I would say that it is a good thing. And he is knocking heads. Watch him work.
He is using the GOP's resistance to his bipartisanship efforts to hit them over the head. At the same time, he is inviting them for ideas (not negativity).
Labels: Administration Obama
A FAMILY AFFAIR
Today's film was Jonathan Demme's
We are plunked down in a huge assembly of family and friends along with Rachel's sister who is on a pass from rehab.
She doesn't really know anyone except for her family and neither do we.
This film is in Altman style. All kinds of stuff going on all the time and we are in the middle of it. Demme lets us wander around along with the camera. It is a good experience.
Mostly in focus, Rachel's sister Kym, played by Anne Hathaway, is the center of gravity for the film. A good choice. As a long term addict with the entire family engaged in her disease, we get to see the drama(s) unresolved and resolving around her.
Don't get me wrong. This is not a film about addiction and recovery but an addict does provide a center of a sort and it is a way of seeing how this family and its friendship circle work.
Some of it is funny. Some is upsetting. All of it is nicely done in a loving way.
Rosemarie DeWitt is Rachel. Very good. Debra Winger and Anna Devere Smith as the first and second wife/mothers. Winger full of history. Smith the calming force. Bill Irwin, a great actor and clown is the father.
The music is very eclectic as are the friends and family. Without making a big deal of it we see and hear a sort of "new age" scene. Multi racial. Right up to date.
I liked the film a lot and enjoyed being at the wedding as well as behind the scenes. I wouldn't mind seeing it again with earphones or even with the "hard of hearing" thing on to catch whatever dialogue I may have missed.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
How do you spell dysfunctional? Hathaway, Winger, Irwin and DeWitt
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
UN GAY
Every small step helps.
Sources: US to sign UN gay rights declaration
Bush would not sign this.
Labels: Administration Obama
RUDD DUD
Today's movie was to be Role Models.
I have liked Paul Rudd in several movies. Sean William Scott used to be funny. A lot of people liked this film so I rented it. What happened here?
I don't know but I didn't last more than 15 minutes.
One needs some semblance of suspension of disbelief. I was unable to conjure any. Maybe I was trying too hard.
It just looked to me as though this was a bunch of people trying to make a movie that was funny and failing. Flailing.
Maybe I have aged out of the market. I am sure that this has something to do with it. I will give this a 1 out of Netflix5.
GREEN
Nice touch.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday selected Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney to be U.S. ambassador to Ireland, turning to a lifelong Republican who provided the Democrat critical campaign support during the White House race.
The 76-year-old Rooney endorsed Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton during Pennsylvania's contentious Democratic primary; Clinton won the contest last April. Rooney later campaigned for him in Steelers country in western Pennsylvania, and Obama went on to win the state last November.
In the 1970s, Rooney helped found the American Ireland Fund, an organization that has raised millions for advocacy of peace and education in Ireland. His legacy is reflected in a Steelers-themed bar in a disused linen mill in one of the roughest parts of northwest Belfast.
In announcing the nomination on St. Patrick's Day, Obama called Rooney "an unwavering supporter of Irish peace, culture and education."---AP
Labels: Administration Obama
Monday, March 16, 2009
HOOKED
The other day John said that we eat too much salt. Or maybe he said I did.
Guilty.
There is nothing better than a hard boiled egg dipped in salt.
I don't have problems with blood pressure so I pour it on.
I love it.
Now, Andrew Sullivan found this.
Salt is a 'natural mood booster'
Shit. Another addiction.
Maybe I should taper off.
Yehhh. When have I ever tapered off anything?
Saltanon?
Another item stolen from Andrew Sullivan
Labels: diet
A ZOE BY ANY OTHER NAME
A character in today's movie was named Zoe. And they called her Zo-ee throughout.
A diminutive?
The correct pronunciation?
A little bit of me dies if I pronounce a word incorrectly.
Ego.
So I looked it up.
I guess you will have to ask Zoe. If you know one. I don't. But you never know when it might come up.
Labels: culture
EXACTLY MY POINT
Where Did All the Wealth Go? To Our Kids.
And I never really had the money in the first place.
I might even get some of it "back" before I die.
I will have to sell the house at the same price I bought it plus some improvements before I really "lose" something.
And I will have to use up all my retirement funds before I, maybe, hit a point where I came in.
The chances are very good, if I live long enough, that I will get back the money I never really had in my portfolio.
Think about it. It will make you fell better as this particular rally subsides and the market falls back some, or more, before it begins its inevitable return to where it was before.
Now, there are some people that bought at the top of the market. That is a whole different story.
They expected the real estate and the stock markets to continue to increase. They will. But there will be a longer period for them. In which case, maybe it is the kids who will get the bennies.Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan
HORTICULTURE
Tomorrow is my Dad's birthday. He will be 101.
I am noting it today because he always had to share his birthday with the Irish which he was not.
We are all "krauts".
I had a full life with my Dad. We had our growing up stuff, a predictable adult crisis and a final resolution. A three act play.
He was a wonderful grandfather. Pappy.
I still miss him after 21 years. It doesn't seem that long at all.
He was a great guy. Rough edges, soft heart.
I love to notice things that I do that remind me of him.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
It was a good tree.
I am trying to be a good apple.
LIGHT WITH DEPTH
Today's film was Mike Leigh's
A great film about a singular young woman, Poppy, played by Sally Hawkins. (Leigh with Hawkins in the photo)
Poppy is beyond happy go lucky. She is an eternal optimist and can find pleasure in most everything. Nothing gets her down.
In a way, this can be a little hard to take, but this film explores Poppy's depths with considerable skill.
This is another film with no story line. It is a character study. Vignettes are used. They are continuous and unfold a kind of story but mostly they peel away at the Poppy onion.
She is a natural empath. She sees below others' surface. She takes everyone seriously.
She is a teacher and we see her work with a troubled young boy. She meets her own love interest, a counsellor, this way. Another happy person. Later she asks about this. They laugh.
For a reversal in perspective, she becomes a student to learn driving.
The driving instructor played intensely and convincingly by the British comic, Eddie Marsan. He is full of self hatred, a bigot, a man with many sorrows and warped beliefs. No one else would have anything to do with him but Poppy stays with him until she cannot be with him any more. His final rant to her is expresses the other side of Poppy's personna and there is some truth to what he says about her. She takes some of this to heart. But as a lesson. Not a basis to change her style.
This film is great to watch and I recommend the "hard of hearing" subtitles because the accents here are tough to navigate and you do not want to miss one word of dialogue.
I would be happy to see this again. A Mike Leigh fest? So I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
TRUTH AND FREEDOM
Today's film is the estimable
Il y a longtemps que je t'aime / I've Loved You So Long (2008)
with the even more estimable Kristin Scott Thomas as a woman on the right) who is returning to her sister after a decade in prison.
The film is a series of vignettes, more than plot actually, that show the steady progress of returning from the life she had to the life that is to come.
We slowly see the story behind her incarceration as she slowly opens up to the vibrant life around her.
Scott Thomas is one of my favorite actresses. In this, she is a plain jane rather than her usual sophisticate woman of the world. She is wonderful and is surrounded by a wonderful cast.
This film is enormously gratifying. Quietly emotional. Beautifully realized in its short scenes.
The sister's family and friends provide a loving place for the ex-inmate to heal and grow back into the world. It is a very gentle film. While the subject matter is dead serious, the treatment is not horrific nor made to shock.
The relationship between the two sisters is central and wonderful to watch develop not only to its old level but to new adult dimensions as well.
Incidentally this is a French film. Scott Thomas is one of the few perfectly bilingual actors in the world. Although they do give her character some time in England to cover if the French hear an English accent. I wouldn't know, of course, but it is an interesting facet of her career that she appears and has awards in both languages.
I will give this a 4 out of Netflix5.
SOS
We have a pure bred dog bought from a breeder who works ethically and with great care for maintaining a high quality genetic line.
That said, I have sometimes been given the fish eye by people who have aquired a "rescue dog". Somehow this has become a superior practice. A bit like using recycled paper towels or toilet paper.
A bit greener than thou.
This trend toward rescue is admirable at one level if it can reduce the unnecessary euthanasia--killing--of pets in surplus that is now epidemic in the nation's animal shelters.
At another level, it is an illusion.
We are not recycling trees here, we are recycling animals who have been sent to a shelter for a variety of reasons. Some of these include abuse, maltreatment and abandonment. the animal was taken away from the owner by animal protection agencies.
Surely one who rescues such a dog should know that there will be some additional work involved, not to say love and care, to compensate for the bad experiences.
Unfortunately many of these people have neither the skill or the time or the deep commitment to do this job well. They simply compound the problem. They take the dog back to the pound. Now the dog has had another bad experience at the hands of his "best friend".
In addition, some dogs are simply bad actors or have health problems and will never make partners with a human in the way that nature has developed the two species attraction for each other.
Until now I have felt alone in this point of view but in today's LATimes a stronger voice speaks on this subject.
At one level it seems absurd to want both a rescue dog and a dog that is a pure breed. There are such animals. Our breeder had three airedales who were found abandoned.
But most dogs that need rescue are mutts. I understand that the Obamas need an allergenic animal but if that is the case get a pure breed puppy.
The big factor here is that everyone should have the experience of bonding at the puppy age if they can. Bringing a young animal through the early months is an exciting experience. Surely no kid should miss it.
The Obamas are acting like most people who don't know dogs or the experience of being with animals.
If you don't want to housebreak then you are unprepared for the care that comes after.
Of course, realistically, someone else will be taking major care of the dog. Like the Obamas, the First Dog will not have a normal way of life as long as s/he lives in the White House in any case.
An interesting aside. The Bush's Barney had behavioral problems. Snappish. He bit a reporter.
WISHFUL THINKINGupdated
Or maybe magical thinking. Whatever.
This guy points out that Bernie Madoff's main co-conspirators were his victims. Their gullibility. That's him in better times. Butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. Such a nice guy. He couldn't be a crook.
Madoff Had Accomplices: His Victims
It is hard to read about people losing their life savings. Hell, it's hard to read about people "losing"* 30-40% of their net worth as most of us IRA and 401K people have. But there is some point where pity stops and schadenfreude begins.
Elie Weisel. A guy who has been milking his holocaust story for decades turns out to be as greedy as anyone else. Less the humble man. More the annoying whiner.
It is amazing that people looking for the fast buck can be so blinded by a con-man who was on the suspect list of any reputable investment house. They never checked.
And some are probably lining up to do it again.
Late Thursday afternoon, I called Richard C. Breeden, the former chairman of the S.E.C. who had recently served as a trustee to get money back for investors who had been involved in a billion-dollar Ponzi scheme that was uncovered more than a decade ago. He had miraculously been able to pay investors close to 60 cents on the dollar, partly by increasing the value of the assets that the scheme was built on. That’s far more than any Madoff victim is going to get. (So far, the Madoff trustee has identified only $1 billion in assets.) Tragically, Mr. Breeden said, some people who had invested in the Ponzi scheme that he helped clean up turned around and gave their money to Mr. Madoff.*Yes. I know. It isn't lost. Just reduced in value. Madoff's victims truly lost their money. There was no investment. The new money went to old customers who expected to get a return of over 12%. If someone should payoff the schnooks it should be them.“I guess some people never learn,” Mr. Breeden said.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
HALF GEEK
I caught that today is pi day but I missed that it is also Einstein's birthday. The convergence being even more 'amazing'. 3.14. Einstein. And so on.
I am not much of a scientist. I let most of my math and physics studies fly away. Balloons in the sky.
I had to take the courses. Four terms.
I have never ever used any of it.
I don't mean to disparage the subjects. I am sure that they made me a better thinker and gave me a grasp of the world that I would not otherwise have. I am a believer in the scientific method even in matters of faith!
Utility is not the only guideline for developing a mental discipline. I don't use long division much either. Or the study of a frog's innards which I did pretty well at. All that biology.
The courses did have a long lasting result on the negative side. I can still have dreams of not being prepared for a quiz or lab report.
Another skill learned? Getting over and past stuff. I copied a lot of other people's lab books over time. Quizzes were less amenable to cheating. I just shut my eyes and gave it my best shot. The power of intuition over logical process.
All of this was good enough to get me a passing grade.
Faking it on intuition may not be an admirable life skill but it is sometimes critical to survival.
HIDDEN STORIES
Today's film was
There are many secrets here as a young boy unravels his family's past from bits and pieces put together over the years.
The big secret is that his parents managed to hide their Jewish past during WWII through a series of betrayals and serendipity.
The story is told by the adult boy and it is shown in time layers as memory unfolds.
There are many parts of this which are generic to growing up as well as specific to the situation. For example, the young boy has an imaginary friend, indeed a brother, who he sees and plays with. So did I. Most only children do. In this case it has more than usual relevance.
I don't want to tip it all off.
The film is enjoyable as a well constructed work of art and while it is immensely sad, it has a positive message about the human desire to both hide and reveal unseen truths.
What a surprise for a child to find that his parents have lied to him about the most basic things.
I recommend this film also for people who are interested in the period as I am. I grew up during this time and had no inkling of the other aspects of the War. I have read many novels having to do with France, in particular, during the Occupation and this beautifully constructed film shows a great deal of clothing, atmosphere and daily life at that time.
I imagine that for the French, who are just coming to terms with their dual identity during the War, a film like this has to be quite stirring. The Germans had to face their own history quite soon after the War. Other countries have taken more time to see how collaboration and double lives worked to enable Germany to do much of its evil. In France, there were never more than a small contingent of German troops to keep control over the country. The rest was done by the Vichy government and many Frenchmen who simply switched over in one day. The Jews of France were almost immediately betrayed by neighbors and friends.
We have only an inkling of what this might have been like.
I will give this film a 4out of Netflix5. It is very good and I would be more than happy to see it again.
SPLITSVILLE
Once again, we are talking about splitting up the state.
Farmers Lead a Bid to Create 2 Californias
We have heard about the movements toward North California and South California. There is also the old idea of Oregon and a piece of California becoming the new state of Jefferson.
But this is new. The city slickers split from the yokels.
They aren't too specific about which counties would go with the farmers but I am sure ours would be part of it. Half of the valley produces the nation's grapes and lettuce. Our neighbor Imperial Valley is even more devoted to farms.
There is a measure of satisfaction in that idea. We could put a toll gate on the Banning Pass and charge admission to our side of the territory.
God knows there are too many city slickers coming over into Palm Springs.
This all started because, in the last election, we passed a referendum that stopped the imprisonment of chickens, veal and pigs. This really pissed the farmers off.
I doubt this will go anywhere any time soon.
The state is in a crisis right now. With our movie star governor at an all time popularity low we don't have time for the farmer vote.
Arnie is out on the hustings right now getting us ready to vote huge bond issue referendums in a special election in May.
We are distracted.
Right now it appears that the measures may not pass.
Maybe we do need to split up for other reasons than the pigs and chickens. We are so big that we have become unmanageable.
Labels: California
Friday, March 13, 2009
DOG TAG
Franklin has been with us 6 years.
We went to "look at him" on March 12, 2002.
The idea was that there were two puppies left in the litter and we could come take a look.
We had not decided on getting an airedale but we still took along the wire crate. "Just in case".
We had a test procedure with a bunch of metrics related to personality and matching up.
Choosing the Right Puppy Dog--Test
He passed on all counts.
The big test was that he stayed with us and walked all over our laps as we sat on the ground. They say that "letting the puppy choose you" is not an ideal way to make the choice but I have to say that the cuddles we got were convincing.
We looked at each other and the deal was sealed. I went to sign the papers and the check and John picked the puppy up and held him in his arms.
His brother, who was very cute, was not even under consideration. Funny that the breeder had thought we would take the other one and had given him a bath and all. We chose the stinky one.
The puppy who instantly became "Franklin" clutched John as hard as a puppy can.
On the way home we took turns holding him. He held on tight. So did we.
It was a big day. The first car ride. We stopped at a rest stop. His first grass pee.
We met a lesbian couple who had a white poodle. His first non-airedale. He has liked white poodly dogs ever since.
And so on.
He has been a member of the family ever since he came into the yard and staked his claim to the territory and our lives.
Non-dog people are probably gagging by this point. Gag away. I know what you are thinking. We were never really dog people until Franklin. We took a leap of faith. He helped us across.
The reality is that he has changed our lives and our relationship in many wonderful ways.
We didn't have a party or anything special yesterday. But we gave him an extra hug. 6 years is a long time. And not long enough.
Labels: Franklin
SUAVE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was Ernst Lubitch's
Con-men, thieves and pickpockets all pose as dandies in this fast paced comedy. Herbert Marshall triangles with Miriam Hopkins and Kay Francis. Produced before the dread Code was in place, there are plenty of double meanings for the audience to savor. Some more explicit than others.
There are even a potential gay couple in the mix, the faux British Edward Everett Horton and Charles Ruggles.
There is never a dull moment and the audience is treated as adult not only in the matters of sex but in being smart enough not to need every gag underlined and repeated to a dull tedium. The hallmark of many comedies today.
It was fun to see this classic. It was Lubitch's first non-musical and he went on to create many more great comedies most of which are "Bests".
The DVD has an introduction by Peter Bogdanovitch which is worthwhile although it tips off a bit of the film. Maybe see it after.
I will give this a 3 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
PROSTATE EXAM
As a prostate cancer survivor, I am a strong advocate of regular PSA blood tests and regular prostate exams.
It is amazing how many men are reluctant to have the simple digital test in a doctor's office.
Notice, in this film, how well the exam goes and how ready the patient is to cooperate.
Labels: health
IDENTITY POLITICS
This is what happens when the government gets into the matter of who is and who is not a couple.
Obama on Spot Over a Benefit to Gay Couples
As a gay man in a gay marriage I should be outraged that they have not done anything about this so far.
I would think that they would put it on the top of the agenda before the economy, Iraq and the myriad other issues that lie in wait for the new administration.
I am kidding.
I don't know what he will do. If I were him, I would forget trying to please the Republicans to get their support. But I am not him and maybe he does need the support.
Dilemmas.
Wait until they start getting antsy about "don't ask, don't tell".
We are every politician's idea of hell. The GOoPers can't stand us except for when they want to meet us in men's rooms or meet them in the closet. The Democrats want our vote and court us but want us to be patient.
But the momentum is on our side.
Labels: gay life, gay marriage, gay politics, gay rights
Thursday, March 12, 2009
GET READY
From Politico:
With the world swirling about it, the House took a moment Thursday to honor pi, the Greek letter symbolizing that great constant in mathematics representing the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter.An irrational number that has been calculated to more than 1 trillion digits, pi is a concept not totally foreign to today’s Washington. But in this case, the goal was to promote efforts by the National Science Foundation to improve math education in the United States, especially in the critical fourth to eighth grades.
Rounded off, pi equates to 3.14, hence the designation of March 14 as Pi Day under the resolution. Informal celebrations have been held around the country for at least 20 years, but Wednesday’s 391-10 vote is the first time Congress has joined the party.
Labels: holidays
BACKUP
I bought a year's supply of backup for my computer today.
Tom suggested Carbonite.
I have Mac's Time Machine but it makes me nervous. There are a lot of error reports.
And what if it went out.
If there was a fire it would all go.
50 bucks a year seemed cheap enough.
It was pretty easy to get it installed. I took the two free weeks deal.
That means I will take the whole thing as it takes two to three weeks to upload all your shit.
It works continuously when you are not using your computer.
That means that I will have to leave the Mac on more than I usually do. Not asleep.
I think that is probably better anyway as the maintenance stuff the machine needs to do on itself won't work if it is asleep either.
Mostly I put it to sleep when people are visiting as my screen saver is XX-rated. Not triple X. Just double. I have an extensive library of porn photos that flash by every three seconds.
There are 55 albums of about 150 images each in my iPhoto files.
I digress.
I am backup compulsive. I already backup my Quicken every week to my laptop so I will be operational if the computer dies.
That makes three backups now.
Early in my computer life I read that you should save three times. Once for the quick replacement. Two, in case the computer eats the first backup and three so you can sleep at night.
I have never saved three of everything. But I am closing in on it.
Oh. For the MacHeads. I know I could subscribe to Mac.com but I hate the monopolistic feel of the MacEmpire.
I am so enthusiastically a MacPerson but there are limits.
I have signed up several times and then bailed at the last minute.
They can have my heart and soul but not my memory.
CLEANING PLUS
I went to the dentist today.
Cleaning. Gum maintenance.
He lasered in on a cavity in one of the teeth he wants to crown. I guess I will have to do it.
May 14th.
It is OK.
I resisted the big plan as it was laid out last time and told him I couldn't afford it.
His counter is obviously to go one tooth at a time and make it a no brainer that I should get the tooth done.
This at least slows it down.
I didn't get to use all the arguments I had in reserve. The facts that we would have to root canal the tooth (more money) or pull it (losing an anchor for my partial) are pretty good arguments.
What the hell? It's only a thousand dollars.
AT LAST
A drug cop that knows it is a demand problem.
And he has first hand family knowledge.
It wasn't too long ago that you would be disqualified if you had any "scandal" in your family about drugs.
Of course that would rule out just about anyone except the liars and deniers and disqualify the best qualified to work with the problem.
Labels: Administration Obama
FREEMAN
I have been watching this develop:
Israel Stance Was Undoing of Nominee for Intelligence Post
The minute this guy was announced, they were all over him. Schumer, the head Israel spokesman and NY Senator led the charge.
I don't know much about the details but I sure saw the firestorm.
It looks like the pro-Israel lobbies are as strong as ever. The Obamas are going to have to work covertly to get any kind of a new look at the situation and be more realistic about Israel's role as a major shit stirrer in the Middle East. Not to say anything about its role as a terrorist state.
Labels: Israel
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
MINIMAL
I got the word from my accountant this morning.
My quarterly payments were pretty much on the money (so to speak) and any money I have to pay or get refunded will be "minimal".
A good word, "minimal". I like it.
I certainly do not want to pay more than I have already paid in and, as a long time quarterly payer, I don't want the government to have one cent more than they are due one second before they are due it.
They do not pay interest on that money.
Some people I know still say to themselves "OH! I am getting a refund".
Just like they won the lottery!
Shit. It is your money!
Interest is not too high anywhere these days but still.
I must say that the IRS and the State do pay interest on a settled claim after the fact.
On two occasions, I have submitted revised returns and they have paid me interest even though the reason for the delay was really my lack of diligence in declaring certain deductions.
And they pay pretty good.
This also happens if you have an audit and come out on the positive side.
But not on withholding or prepayments.
Anyway, this is good news and I am glad to have it.
For 2009, I don't know that I will have any impact from the new tax reductions. I will let that evolve like everyone else who is not sure.
The wage earners will see it in their checks in April I understand. Not the prepayers. Well, maybe. I gotta ask.
